Subtle Baby Pink

Subtle manicure for summer? Why not?! :i

I wanted something girly but soft, so I finally tried Baby Pink from Barry M, which I got from Kvacka months ago. :h I had to add 3 coats to even up the color. Then I decided to use the pattern I used almost every time I did my nails when I started this blog, and it's still one of my favorite. :L

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OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Barry M - Baby Pink / 3 coats

Stamping: Konad m64 + Essence Stamp me! White

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

What do you think? Do you prefer pastels, bright or dark colors for summer? I love wearing brights, but from time to time I also love wearing pastels. <3

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Neon Pink Houndstooth Nails

Let's continue with the goodies I got from Born Pretty Store. I already told you I'm into neons lately and I really need more of them in my life. So when they offered me to try some things from their store, I immediately knew what I want to try out this time. :D

CH Nail #14 is a part of their neon collection. I picked this one, because I wanted something bright and pink. ^_^ I didn't know what to expect but when I tried it, I fell in love with. It's highlighter neon pink. <3 I really like its brush, because it's more on a flatter side, which makes application even easier. Formula is great, you can easily get away with 2 coats. I didn't use a top coat on the picture below, so you can see it has some kind of this plastic finish.

Essence Nail Art - Protecting Base Coat

CH Nail - #14 / 2 coats

I'm really happy with this polish and I'll be definitely wearing this one through the whole summer. I have no idea if these are B3F, because the ingredients aren't listed on the bottle, but this one doesn't stink like polishes with Formaldehyde, DBP & Toluene. It's $4.99 per bottle and the bottle contains 15 ml (with a cuopon code you get a nice deal :i ).

And because I also got this Double Sided Stamper I had to try it out too. I tried this pink houndstooth dress in H&M months ago, which I really loved, but it looked horrible on me so I didn't get it. :D But I really loved that black & pink combination, so I decided to recreate it with this neon pink. :D

Essence Nail Art - Protecting Base Coat

CH Nail - #14 / 2 coats

Stamping: Wet n Wild - Black Créme & Konad m63

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

And I'm still wearing this manicure, because I love it so much! :L What do you think?

So I tried this double sided stamper for the first time and so far I'm loving it! It's much easier to hold it in hands and transfer the pattern from the plate to my nails. I also got the regular stamper from BPS and they're same size, the only difference is that the double stamper is smoother but it still picks the pattern perfectly as the normal one. Double stamper has a green smaller stamper for smaller patterns but I don't know if I'm ever going to use that one, because I'm really not a fan of smaller patterns. :D It comes with a metal scraper and I prefer credit cards more than metal scrapers, because they easily scratch my plates.

Don't forget to use code J10X31 to get 10% off on your order. ;)

Let me know if you already tried any of these! Do you like Houndstooth nails?

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

*Some of the products in this post were sent to me by Born Pretty Store! For more information read my disclosure policy!

Swap with Carolina from Colores de Carol #4

I didn't get any great packages for some time now and when I woke up and see I just got one, I was so super excited. This is my fourth package from Carolina who runs a blog Colores de Carol. I'm sure you already know her, because she's just amazing. :L She can rock any color on this planet and spice it even more with any pattern. :L Beautiful photos, nails, manicures... Check her out! :)

She helped me get lots of goodies from my WL and thank you Carolina for that! <3

 China Glaze

Aquadelic

Traffic Jam

How about a Tumble

Orly

Artificial Sweetener
Prelude to a Kiss

Carolina helped me get one of my biggest lemmings I had! Did you guess? Yes, How about a Tumble from China Glaze's Kaleidoscope collection. After I got Tickle my Triangle from Kvacka, all I wanted was just How about a tumble. Now I got it, I'll stop desperately looking for rest of them. Better 2 than nothing. :) I also wanted Aquadelic from Electropop's collection, because I saw a really great manicure somewhere with Dance Baby together (which I'm still waiting) so I had to have it. :L

OPI Nail Envy

Sinful Colors

Daredevil

Cinderella

Claire's 

Candy Shop

Trio

I'm so excited to try out Nail Envy from OPI. I already blogged about peelies on my nails and I think that Nail Tek doesn't help me anymore as it did last year so I was eyeing Nail Envy. It's a mini so great to try out first. :) Carolina also told me I need Cinderella so she send me one and I must say I'm so happy she did. Can't wait to wear it! And of course, Candy Shop! :L I immediately fell in love with the DL's but when I spotted the cheaper version, I wanted it. 

 

Carolina also sent me 2 Konad's Image plates, m63 & m71 and I can't wait to play with them! Chocolate, cuticle pen, Viva la Nails water decals, lovely necklace, sweets,... :)

Thank you Carolina for sending me all these goodies, you're the sweetest! <3

What would you like to see next? 

It's the worst thing not knowing what to put on nails. I started doing 3 manicures the other day but I didn't feel the colors I picked, so I went naked - again. It drives me crazy when I'm not feeling the color I wear, especially with so many colors to choose from. :D 

Have a lovely week and thanks for reading! :)

Nighty night,

Ivana :k

Pastel Pink & Roses... My take on Spring!

Another contest ladies! 2 contest in a row for me. :D But this one was a bit harder for me. :i Enamel Girl is having a Nail Art Stamping Contest Spring 2012. Theme is obviously Spring and you need to stamp something that reminds you of Spring. Spring always reminds me of pastel colors and flowers and that's what I was trying to recreate on my nails. :)

This is another manicure I always wanted to try out but I never did it until yesterday. S. tweeted me a picture of similar manicure ages ago and I just couldn't understand how it was made. I still don't, because my mani isn't even close to perfect as that one was. I wish I could show you a picture, but we can't remember where we saw it. :/

This is my second try on this manicure. First I applied 5 different pastels on each nails but the final result wasn't great. So I took it off and start again. I took my favorite baby pink polish with amazing application, Something Sweet by China Glaze. Some pastels have really awful formula, but all I tried from China Glaze are amazing. <3

And then the funny part begin and you're still probably wondering what I was trying to recreate well if you skip to the pictures you already know. :D You probably saw this pattern a million time, I showed it here, here and here and I can easily say that this pattern is my favorite! I got this plate from Dolores at Colorful Bottle's blog (btw she's back with a challenge so go and say hi! :) ).

Anyway this pattern was stamped on the pictures so perfectly with green leaves and pink or red roses, I can't really remember. So I tried yesterday but mine are far away from perfect. :D 

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Nail Tek - Foundation 2

China Glaze - Something Sweet / 2 coats

Essence - Once Upon a Time (TE FairyTale) + Kiko - #342 & Konad m65 / stamping
Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

I wish I had daisy pattern but I don't, so roses will have to work. :D In case you're wondering how I made them look like this.... Here's a really quick tutorial! :)

Step 1: First I applied red shimmery color over roses. I simply put some drops where the roses are and when I covered all roses, I took a green for leaves and drop some polish all over them.

Step 2: When you cover the whole pattern with green and red or any color combination by your choice, scrap the polish off in diagonal way, just like I did on the picture below and you can still see how I scrapped it.You can also crap it from another corner I did and it'll still work. I still had some red on leaves and green on roses but it wasn't that bad, at least I don't think so. :)

I really love how it looks like so I probably won't remove this manicure until it totally chips. It definitely isn't perfect as I would want it to be, but if I can't do it, then I have to be satisfied with what I can do. :D If you have any tips how to make this pattern perfectly stamped in red and green, please let me know. I would love to find out. :D

Let me know what do you think about my take on Spring. Did you ever try to stamp pattern in different colors? 

If you are inspired by Spring and you have a stamping idea, be sure you'll enter the contest, you still have lots of time left to enter. There won't be only one winner but also 4 random winners so we all have a bit more chances to win anything, I wish. :D

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day! :rainbow

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Leopard Print

Time flies by just too fast. :/ I don't have a lot of time for nails but I finally took some time to remove my previous manicure and make something quick but cute. :) I'm in a brown period lately so I wanted to have something brown on my nails too and what's better than leopard print? :) 

I started with one coat of BS and Essence - Zulu (light gray creme with plastic finish) just to give my nails a color. I decided to sponge Desert Fox (greyish brown), also from Essence, and Warm & Fozzie (brown copperish duochrome) from OPI to get a little shimmery look. :) I stamped leopard pattern with BPS M57, as I already told you that the patterns are small so I had to double or triple, but I didn't have problems with placing the pattern to look like I didn't have to stamp twice. :) I added some dots with 2030 from China Glaze - gold metallic color and a layer of TC to finish my whole manicure. 

When I made it yesterday I wasn't sure if I like but as soon as I saw it on sun, I love it! :)

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Daylight

Nail Tek - Foundation 2

Essence - Zulu (TE Into the Wild) / 1 coat

Essence - Desert Fox (TE Into the Wild) / sponged

OPI - Warm & Fozzie / sponged

Wet n Wild - Black Créme & BPS M57 / stamping

China Glaze - 2030 / dots

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

What do you think? I will probably wear it for whole this week. &lt;3 Do you like wearing animal prints? Which one is your favorite? Mine are probably leopard and zebra. :)

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day! :rainbow

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Holiday Guest Post #6: Colores de Carol

More guest nails. :e All ladies are so nice! :)

We're having Carolina from Colores de Carol here today. :) I just love Carolina, she's so nice and sweet lady. We made lot of swaps, my WL would be so longer now without your help, thank you soo much! :h She's always showing her talent with creating so many different manicures, let's see what she's prepared for us today. :)

 

I am super happy to be here today, Ivana's blog has a very special place in my heart because she is the sweetest girl in the world and she's always featuring the most beautiful pink manicures I've ever seen. I was so flattered when Ivana asked me to do a guest post for her readers,I hope you enjoy this manicure I did for you.

For this look I used Rock Solid from Orly, a gunmetal grey with shimmer and holo glitter, then I stamped with Special polish White Pearl using IP Konad M69.

Thank you very much Ivana for having me over here.

Feel better soon...

Love,

Carolina

Another great combination! Holographic glitter really makes it special. <3 This Zebra would be so fancy with holographic glitter. :P I'm sure you all know Carolina but of course, if not, you don't know what are you missing! Check her blog now - Colores de Carol. <3

Thanks for reading and let me know what do you think about this lovely manicure! :)

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Fancy Snowy Fuchsia with Roses

Another mani from last month, because I'm still rocking my Teeez Smooth & Outta Control mani. I'm just not in the mood for removing almost perfect manicure. Yap, last two months made me even more lazy, because now I don't like changing my mani every other day like I used to do before. :D I hope I'll change that in near future. xP

I wore this mani for a week I think because I liked it so much. I wanted to have white nails after seeing this beautiful swatch at With love, Ana but then I changed my mind and I painted my nails with pink too. White polish I used was China Glaze - Snow from their Winter 2010 collection and my favorite pink polish Orly - Fancy Fuchsia. Both are two coats I think and their application is very thick to apply but a coat of TC saves everything.

Sun

When I got bored I added some stamping with one of my favorite patterns. :) I stamped white roses over Fancy Fuchsia with Essence Stamp me! White polish and pink roses over white with Fancy Fuchsia, as you can see FF is great for stamping over light colors too. :)

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It's fun combo, pink and white always go perfectly together and because I love pink, this was a fun way to wear pinks. :)

And if we're talking about pink/white combo, I got new pair of Adidas sneakers last week in exactly that combination. :L 

I love sneakers, I'd have all from Adidas. :L I wasn't planning to order them, but I got a mail about sales and when I saw them I just had to order them. Then after one day I changed my mind but they're already sent out. But the lady I contacted said if I don't want them that I just don't pick them up when mailman bring them. And I didn't but they're waiting another 15 days at post office. I didn't know what to do, I went even shopping if I'll find anything that I'd like even more but I didn't so I went to pick them up and I'm glad I did. They're little more open as usualy sneakers, like ballerinas, but they're totally cute. :L I got white and pink shoelaces but I decided to go with pink, they look cuter. :)

Do you like this color combination? :) What's your favorite pair of sneakers if you're wearing them?

Hope you're all having a great day! I'm going back to typing my thesis. :)

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

OPI - Bubble Bath + Konad

Quick post for today, I have to prepare myself for El Clásico! :e

Bubble Bath is really pretty shade but I decided to stamp it with Admire from China Glaze's Romantique collection. :L Like I said, I can't even stamp with any other polishes so good as with these metallics shades.

 

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I love it. :L It's so soft and pretty, I really need a break from colors sometimes so these kind of shades are really perfect for soft manicures. :)

What do you think? Like it?

HALA REAL MADRID! :P

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Orly - Fancy Fuchsia + Konad #2

Quick post right before I'm going to bed. :) 

Like I said, I wasn't satisfied with my first konadicure that's why I carefully remove the previous stamping and add another... Zebra print. :i I used m57 and Manhattan 1010N again for stamping. :)

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It looks prettier on pictures than in RL that's why I already have a new manicure, which I'll probably show you in next days if I won't be tired to much to take photos. :) 

I wish you a great beggining of the week!

Nighty night,
Ivana :k

Orly - Fancy Fuchsia + Konad #1

I said I probably won't add anything to this beautiful Fancy Fuchsia but I did and now I regret it. :( I decided to stamp black over it but I didn't like the final result at all. That's why I removed the stamping and tried again but I still don't like it. I have to upload pictures of my current mani but here is my first try to make it even more prettier  - well I failed. :i

I used m73 and black Manhattan polish 1010N - after trying China Glaze's polishes from Romantique collection was stamping with this black just so difficult for me. xo And when I decide to leave it like it is my TC smudged the pattern that's why I's even more sad what I did to this beautiful shade. :D

Base color isn't color accurate, I just wanted to show you this manicure...

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Like I said a couple of time, I'm a big perfectionist and when I stamp my nails they should be perfect or I just don't like it... :D That's why I didn't like it, maybe is the lenght of my nails, the pattern or even color combination... I don't know. :)

Weekend'll be over soon and I'm so sad about it, I want to be at home for another week or 2, month, year... :P

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

China Glaze - Ahoy! with Gold Glitter & Konad

I wasn't planning adding anything to my manicure but I did. I got China Glaze - 2030 from Carolina. :h This is the perfect metallic gold from Khrome collection, which is perfect for stamping too. :L I wanted 2030  so badly because it would be perfect base for ruffian, but now I need to get a perfect black matte and I'm ready. :)

I used floral lovely pattern from M73 and 2030. I had some problems with my phone today, so pictures aren't the best. :$

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Daylight

2030 really goes perfectly with Milani Jewel FX - Gold. :L I don't want to even remove it, I like it so much! What do you think about this manicure?

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

China Glaze - Agent Lavender + Konad

Agent Lavender is really amazing color and perfect base for stamping. :) I must say I didn't like this manicure at all, because I failed with this pattern on some fingers. :( I was spoiled by Admire&Harmony and you have to be more careful with Color Club - Wild at Heart. I hope it'll be better next time. :D

I used pattern from M65. :) Pictures...

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It could be better. :$ But I really like this color combination. What do you think? :) I can't wait to try Wild at Heart on its own, because it's really an amazing holographic polish. :L

Hope you're having a great and relaxing weekend!

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

OPI - Sweet Heart + Konad

Shiny! was right! Sweet Heart is a nice base for stamping too. :) I'm not posting konadicures together with my base polish just because I usually don't stamp it right after I apply a polish but next day or even later. 

I used roses pattern, because it obviously become my favorite pattern, from M65 and China Glaze - Harmony. Like Admire this is also a perfect polish for stamping. I smudge the pattern on my middle finger just a little, oops. :$

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I definetely need more metallics from Romantique and Khrome in my collection so I could stamp my manicures over and over again, because it's really so easy. 5 minutes and you're done with all 10 fingers! :D That's a record for me! :) I prefer waiting few minutes that pattern is perfectly dry, so the TC doesn't smudge it. I wasn't so patient today. :P

What do you think? Do you have any polishes from Romantique and Khrome collection? Are they all good for stamping? 

Nighty night,

Ivana :k

Color Club - Pucci-Licious + Konad

It happened! :c I broke my nail today. I'm soooooo angry. :@ First I added few coats of BC and wished it would help to stay in one piece till Monday so I could buy Essence glue and their SOS nail repair pads, because I broke just a corner of my nail and it still didn't fell off so I could try to repair it. :( But of course I just couldn't forget on that and leave it alone, so it fell off. Worst case scenario. :( I filed the nail down but I'm not satisfied with the shape but I hope it'll grow up soon. I filed other nails just a little, I hope it won't look like disaster on pictures. We'll see tommorow. :)

Anyway I added some stamping to delicious Pucci-licious with Admire again. I had a lot of problems with this pattern from M74 last time when I used it with Chill Out, but today it was so easy again. :) I love Admire! :) It looks great over this great purple. :L

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This pattern looks so cool and unique. :) I really like it! What do you think about this color combination and pattern?

I just watched movie The Pursuit of Happiness for the 933983 time on TV, I just love this movie with Will and Jaden Smith. :L I would love to have a son like Jaden one day, he's just soooooo cute! :$ :h

Image Source

 &

Happy Birthday mommy, love you so much!

I made a coconut cake for her today, it was delicious but didn't look like that, so I won't share a picture with you. :D

Tnx for watching!
Nighty night,
Ivana :k

China Glaze - Sugar High + Konad

I decided to add some stamping to this gorgeous summer beauty Sugar High. :L For stamping I picked China Glaze Admire from spring Romantique Collection back in 2009, which was also in my swap package with Lynsey. Thank you again, I'm so happy I've them all! :h I wanted Admire and Harmony mostly because I read that they're great for stamping. And working with Admire is really just sooooooo easy! :D

I usually spend lot of time for stamping, but today I was done in just few minutes. I used pattern from M65. :i

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I really really like how it turns out! :L The pattern definetely became one of my favorites! :) What do you think? Like it or not? Anyone who have problems with stamping, just pick one polish from Romantique collection and you'll see how easy is to work with them. :D I'm really impressed with them. :)

Nighty night,
Ivana :k

Valentine's Day ♥

It's a Valentine's Day today! Hope you're spending a nice time with those you love!

I made this manicure yesterday for this special day. It's not just a Valentine's day for me, every 14th in the month reminds me that I'm one month longer with my BF. Today we're 2 years and 10 months together... Love you honey!

Let's start with my manicure... I couldn't decide what color should I wear.. I didn't want ending with red, so I picked all these color and made pink-a-lilac creme skittles.

Essence - No More Drama

Essie - Lilacism

Orly - Lollipop

China Glaze - Something Sweet

China Glaze - Rich & Famous

I added 2 coat of each and 1 coat of Essie G2G. I didn't have any problems with applications. Here's one picture, but I forgot to include my thumb.

Sorry for the bad picture, it was so grey outside!

Then I started thinking what should I do now.... I searched for inspiration at many blogs and then decided to do this... Mix and match...

I was just holding Pure Ice for taking pictures, I didn't use it for this manicure. It's the only bottle I have at BF's.

Daylight, cloudy day

From L to R:
Essence - No More Drama stamped with Essence - Stamp me! White & Confetti - Vava Voom + BM02
Essie - Lilacism stamped with Essence Stamp me! White + m73
Orly - Lollipop sponged with Wet n Wild - Glitz
China Glaze - Something Sweet stamped with Essence Stamp me! White & Confetti - Vava Voom + BM02
China Glaze - Rich & Famous stamped with Essence Stamp me! White + m79

I tried sponging for the first time and I really like it how it turned out. What do you think? It's not classic red&white manicure, but it's so me. I spent an hour for this and then half hour just for my pinkie. I was perfectly done with both hands and then I ruined my pinkie... I decided to start at the beggining and ruined it again... And again... And again... And finally made it.

I won't be posting this week, because I'm having an exam on Thurdsay and I have to study. I also forgot all my polishes at home.

Happy Valentine's day girls!

Xoxo,

Ivana